Team

Management

Management

Peter McWilliams, Ph.D.Chief Executive Officer

Dr. McWilliams currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and is also a Managing Director with Sanderling Ventures. He has more than twenty years experience in biomedical research and management. He works actively with Sanderling portfolio companies often as a key member of the founding management team. Prior to joining Sanderling, Dr. McWilliams worked at Genentech, as a Product Manager in Oncology Commercial Development. Prior to that he was an Associate with Booz & Co (now PwC) in San Francisco and prior to that he worked for Oxford Molecular. Dr. McWilliams received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where he was an R.C. Kopf Fellow and was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma. He received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University where he received a Hugh Scott Taylor fellowship. He received a B.A. in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.

Agnes Rafalko, Ph.D.Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Rafalko currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Rafalko founded Glycomine, and served as its CEO from 2014 to 2018, with the goal to focus on research and development of substrate and enzyme replacement therapies for rare genetic disorders of protein glycosylation and misfolding. Prior to Glycomine, she was a Scientist at BioMarin, where she led the implementation of new analytical platform technologies for enzyme products. She has played a strategic role in cross-functional research and development of several enzyme replacement therapies for lysosmal storage disorders. Agnes also held the position of Scientist at Intrexon, Pfizer, and NSF International within the analytical development, manufacturing, and quality control divisions for biosimilars and small molecule therapeutics. Dr. Rafalko received a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Saint Joseph and a Ph.D. in Chemistry with a focus on Proteomics and Nanomedicine at Northeastern University

Teppei Shirakura, Ph.D.Scientific Director, Chemistry

Dr. Shirakura is a Biophysicist with expertise in the development of hydrogel nanoparticles for targeted and controlled drug release for cancer therapy, diagnosis, and imaging. He leads the design and synthesis of nanotechnology-based platforms for intracellular delivery of Glycomine’s therapies. Teppei obtained a B.S. in Biophysics from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from University of Michigan.

Patrice Rioux, MD, PhDChief Medical Officer

Dr. Patrice Rioux has been deeply involved in development of drugs for rare diseases for the last 20 years. His background includes development of drugs and biologic products for various indications across neurodegenerative diseases, immunology, pain management, oncology, and metabolic diseases. He was most recently the Senior Vice-president of Global Clinical Development at ArmaGen, Inc., a company focused on the development of fusion proteins for the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases, and before that, he was the Chief Medical Officer for Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he was responsible for securing regulatory approval of a delayed-release cysteamine for the treatment of a lysosomal storage disease, nephropathic cystinosis, in both the U.S. and Europe. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Edison Pharmaceuticals, and as Vice President Clinical at Repligen, where he gained significant orphan disease experience in mitochondrial diseases as well as in autism and auto-immune diseases. After several years as a clinical researcher at INSERM (France), he started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Biogen, working on multiple sclerosis, before joining Variagenics, Inc., one of the first pharmacogenomic companies. Dr. Rioux received his Medical Education at Faculte de Medecine Pitie-Salpetriere, his Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics at Faculte des Sciences, and his Degree of Pharmacology (pharmacokinetics and clinical pharmacology) at Faculte de Medecine Pitie-Salpetriere.

Kathlene Powell, M.S.Senior Director CMC & Quality Operations

Kathlene Powell has over 28 years experience in Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and Quality management. She has held related management positions at Genentech, Covance Biotechnology Services, Inc., and Raptor Pharmaceutical, Inc. In a consulting capacity, Kathlene has served as the acting head of CMC and Quality functions in over ten organizations covering development through commercial manufacturing operations. Kathlene holds a BA degree in Chemistry from Doane College and a MS degree in Biochemistry from University of Missouri.

Lisa Koch-Hulle, RACSenior Director, Regulatory Affairs

Lisa Koch-Hulle has more than 25 years of regulatory affairs experience across multiple therapeutic areas and all stages of drug development, with approximately 15 years at the senior management level. Prior to Glycomine, Ms. Koch-Hulle held the position of Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Operations at Light Sciences Oncology, and prior to that held the same position at La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company. Ms. Koch-Hulle has also served as a regulatory consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Ms. Koch-Hulle holds regulatory certifications in US, European, and Global regulatory affairs, and is a former Chair of the RAPS European Certification Committee.

Mary Jo Bagger, B.S.Senior Director, Clinical Operations

Mary Jo Bagger has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, implementing clinical trials within both Sponsor and CRO organizations. Her more than 10 years in small, rapidly growing contract organizations proved valuable in later industry positions. She worked at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and Raptor Pharmaceuticals during their early years and was responsible for building the clinical operations department while successfully overseeing the clinical trials for two different drugs that were approved by FDA and EMA. She brings to Glycomine a passion for helping underserved patients such as those with rare and orphan diseases, and enthusiasm for building a team from the ground up. Mary Jo obtained her B.S. in Biology at University of California San Diego.